The first issue, in which Morrison and Murphy take us for a tour of Joe's house, is an immensely promising comic. It suggests that we're about to get a fantasy story that makes intimate use of physical reality, something that will match Morrison's usual twitchy imagination with troubles you can't beat using imagination alone: a dead father, diabetes, and the potential loss of the family home. 

You sort of get all of that in the following seven issues of the comic, so why does it feel so underwhelming on the end?

Joe the Barbarian is a beautiful fantasy, and Murphy puts his weight into every step of the journey, but it's too long a slog to really hold you rapt like Morrison's best trips can, to the point where you find yourself wishing that he'd made it half short and twice strong.